Chapter 188: The Art of Seeking the Truth (1)
"The history of the Zanshin is a history of fighting against outsiders and against oneself..."
On a scorching summer day, cicadas chirped feebly in the old trees. In a classroom across the wall, children sat trembling with fear. The head of the household also sat, his hands cradling an ancient long sword.
"To lose to an outsider is to lose one's life. To lose to oneself is to lose one's character." The old man clicked his fingers and flicked his sword, making a clear sound. "Which is the true failure? Qingye, you tell me."
She was called out and quickly stood up, without thinking: "Yes! It's a loss of life!"
Bursts of snickering echoed through the classroom. Dignity and willpower were more important than life itself; this was common sense even the youngest child knew. The other children in the clan tilted their heads, casting mocking glances. The patriarch also smiled, his mood unremarkable. "What's the reason?" he asked.
"Well... your own soul is your own thing, it can be negotiated! Or rather, it can be communicated!" Qing Ye became increasingly nervous, speaking without thinking. "But if you're dead, there's no room for negotiation! You can't come back to life! Then you can't do anything. So, death is more terrifying. That's what I think!"
The snickers turned to laughter. The head of the family joined in. The laughter was like an invisible cage, isolating her from those around her, transforming her from a sociable person into an animal to be watched. Her face was pale, her hands and feet cold. From the depths of the endless mockery, an old voice spoke with finality.
"Oh my, you're such a genius!"
From that day on, she was the genius with a broken heart, Guang Shi Qing Ye.
·
Qing Ye slapped her cheeks hard, forcing herself to get rid of the memory. She was always like this, whenever she was feeling down, she would think of the unbearable memories of the past, making her mood even worse.
She knew why this was happening. She was still stuck in the Sin Bone, storing too much negative emotion in her body, and her thoughts naturally slid into the abyss of negativity. She should have ascended to Sephiroth 3 sooner, so she could help everyone and solve her own problems. But...
——How can you be considered a heartless person like you?
Chongming's mockery echoed in her heart, bruising her senseless pride. She told herself not to dwell on it, not to worry about it, but a voice deep inside her kept repeating that the elder was right. She couldn't practice cultivation now; she needed to calm down, or at least control her emotions.
By the time she realized it, Qingye had already run out of the settlement and into the dense forest. She leaned against a tree trunk, trying to calm her anxiously racing heart and force herself to remain calm. Then, a deeper sense of frustration took over.
What was she doing? Where had her original plan gone? She was running off in anger after being scolded. How was she any different from any other schoolgirl? Should she find a place to cry in secret afterward?
How can he be considered a heartless person if he is so disgraceful as this?
Feeling increasingly depressed, Qingye covered her face with her hands and sighed. She wanted to prove Chongming wrong, but every action she took only served to prove him right. She was at a loss for words.
At that moment, frantic shouts echoed from nearby, accompanied by penetrating cries. She followed the sound and saw four tribal warriors, armed with magic rifles and bone axes, battling a four-winged blind bird. Beside them lay a half-destroyed trap, and a bear with a snail's head was about to break free.
The situation was clear at a glance. A predatory beast suddenly intruded, interrupting the hunt mid-flight. It looked like the hunt was about to turn into a self-destructive act. Qing Ye cast two shadow shurikens. The first grazed the blind bird's abdomen, drawing its attention. As the bird, alerted by the sound, the second pierced its eyeball from the opposite direction, piercing its brain.
The blind bird twitched a few times and continued to walk due to nerve control. Qing Ye flashed behind the monster bear, slashed its head with a knife, and went straight into the chest to crush its heart.
She drew her sword and stepped aside. After the two beasts were completely dead and no longer moving, she said to the warriors, "It's done."
The settlement warriors cheered weakly. The squad leader, wounded by the blind-feathered bird, sat under a large tree and clasped his hands together repeatedly, "Thank you so much! You saved my life!"
"The warriors are truly remarkable!" Another warrior wiped the sweat from his forehead, "They are truly worthy of being the powerful warriors who are sent to defeat the envoys."
The warriors' praise made Qingye's heart tighten. She played no role in that battle; a more agile Particle Two could have just as easily destroyed the mechanism in the painting. Thinking back, she hadn't contributed much in Jinye City. The center of the battlefield belonged to the dazzling Legends; she had simply been there.
Qing Ye smiled bitterly: "It's basically all thanks to Mr. Chu and his team... They are much better than me."
"I can't tell," the team leader said sincerely. "In my eyes, you're all the same. You're all very strong."
Qingye could tell at a glance that he wasn't a Transformer; he relied solely on armor and relic weapons for combat. The squad leader was a weathered middle-aged man, and the fact that he'd made it this far with such meager equipment spoke volumes about his experience. If Qingye hadn't arrived, such a man would have perished in a hunt right on his doorstep.
"Did you encounter an accident?" Qing Ye asked.
The team leader hesitated for a few seconds. "Dissolving bears usually roam deep in the forest. The blind birds are well-prepared and rarely approach the settlement. But today, they appeared one after another."
It made sense that they had encountered an enemy they shouldn't have. Qingye looked into the depths of the jungle. She had heard Ji Huaisu say yesterday that the group was supposed to go through the jungle back to the settlement.
"There are bad things in the woods, and you should know that."
"Warrior, the big guys have to eat," the squad leader said with a wry smile, "If we go hunting sandworms, we'll die even more miserably."
Qingye nodded and disappeared silently. When she returned, she was dragging a dozen strange birds with unusually long beaks and three black creatures that looked like wild boars.
"Please take these back to the settlement first. I'll go deep inside to investigate the situation."
"Thank you so much!" The squad leader gave a forced military salute. "Please be careful!"
Qingye watched the warriors dragging their prey back to the city, feeling momentarily bewildered. To Chongming and the other teammates, she was just a mediocre helper. In the eyes of her peers at home, she was the perpetually laughing coward. But in the settlement, she became the object of the warriors' admiration, even though her actions were merely a small effort.
Does a person's role really change with the environment? If she were to visit a weak island one day, would the inhabitants there worship her?
The thought made Qingye feel sick. It was too foolish, too arrogant, like a fool relying on his strength to show off his power. She focused her attention and walked into the deep forest.
The forest was utterly silent, broken only by the occasional cry of an unusual animal. Behind the deep green leaves seemed to lie the eyes of a demon, secretly observing her every move. Qing Ye carefully left a shadow behind her, marking her path. Her nostrils twitched slightly, detecting a hint of something unusual in the stale, damp air.
It was a fragrance, like perfume on a noblewoman's shoulders, or an orchid blooming at midnight. Qingye instinctively thought of the luxuries of her homeland. Such a symbol of civilization couldn't possibly exist in a forest filled with decaying matter, corpses, and insects. Qingye immediately held her breath. She knew that certain plants and exotic animals would deliberately create similar scents to lure prey. A scent in the wild was likely poisonous.
But at that moment, the outline of some gigantic, terrifying monster immediately formed in her mind. A mountain of thick flowers, a mouthful of vile plants—Qingye had never seen anything like it before, but fear naturally gave the monster shape, corroding her spirit.
Perhaps he had been poisoned by a neurotoxin. Qingye immediately turned around and returned along the same route.
The shadow is broken.
She stood there frozen, her heart clenched with icy fear. Having her escape route cut off wasn't a big deal; the terrifying thing was her complete lack of awareness of the enemy's tactics. From the moment she was poisoned to the moment her shadow line snapped, it took only a few breaths; it was impossible to tell which came first.
Once again, Qingye felt the gaze behind the leaves, a naked greed for flesh and blood. The leaves began to vibrate, and a noisy fluttering of wings echoed from the darkness. The unrecognizable monster began to flap its wings, and the entire jungle trembled with its movements. Feeling nauseous, Qingye reached out with a trembling hand, trying to hold onto the trunk, but found that the tree had turned a brilliant purple, melting like mud.
Qingye clutched her head tightly, wanting to scream. Her heartbeat was faster than she could imagine. The jungle was shrinking. The noise and sight were closing in. Fear had transformed the space into a tiny cage.
The clear sound of the sword echoed through the deep forest, and the world became clear in an instant.
“Control your emotions,” someone said. “Fear can blind you to reality.”
The flapping of wings was no longer audible, only the rustling of leaves in the wind. She was indeed holding onto a large tree. The trunk was purple, but it was just a normal dark-colored plant. Qingye followed Jianming and saw a campsite in a sparse area of trees. A pale man sat alone on a wooden stake.
He had medium-length hair, wore a silver hoodie, and the short knife on his knee was still vibrating slightly. He was obviously a Zanshin.
"How are you now?" the man said.
"I can't feel it at all." Qing Ye couldn't believe it himself, "Is it an illusion?"
"It's an illusion," the man said in an undeniable tone. "Fear deepens the sense of crisis."
"But, neurotoxin..."
“It’s the scent of flowers.”
Qingye was speechless, then said, "Such a loud flapping sound." "It's the wind." "The trees are melting!" "It's an illusion."
“But, but.” Qing Ye shook his head vigorously and pointed at the broken shadow line behind him, “My line is broken!”
"Because I'm practicing swordplay." The hooded man said calmly, "Anything else?"
"Yes, no more." Qing Ye responded subconsciously with his head down. Just like when he was in class, his awe of the strong made Qing Ye stop talking.
"Sit down and rest." "Okay." Qing Ye carefully sat down on the ground. The hooded man stared at his dagger in a daze.
"What's your name?"
"The light of the night..."
"I'm Long Yu."
The name sounded more like a knife than a person's name, and it was obvious that it was a pseudonym. Qing Ye didn't dare to expose it: "Thank you, Mr. Long Yu."
Then the conversation paused. Long Yu continued to stare blankly at Tandao, his muddy gaze like a drunk office worker just waking up. This awkward and unsettling silence lasted for more than ten minutes. Long Yu looked up and looked at Qingye as if he had just realized something.
"You're troubled."
"Ah." Qingye nodded, "Yes."
Long Yu made an ice knife and threw it to her, then picked up the short knife on her knee.
"Then let's practice kendo," the man said. "No matter what the problem is, kendo is the best way to solve it."
(End of this chapter)
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